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No. 609,289. `Painted Aug. le. |899.

c. .1. MouLToN a A. .1. KEEBLE.

POTATD DIGGING MACHINE.

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(Application med Dec. 88, 1897.) (Nu Model.)

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No. 609,289. Patented Aug. I6, |898..

c. J. MouLToM a. A'. .1. KEEBLE. POTATO DIGGING MAEHINF..

(Application led Dec. 28, 1897.) Ulu Model.) 4 IShets-Sheet 2J.

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No; 609,289. y Patented Allg.` I6, i898. C. J. MOULTON & A. J. KEEBLE.PUTATO DIGGING MACHINE.

(Application filed Dec. 28, 1897.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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' No. 609,289. Patented Aug. I6, |898.

C. J.. MOULTUN- &. A. J. KEEBLVE.

PUTATO DIGGING MACHINE.

(Applicntion led Dec. 28, 1897.) (No Model.) 4 Shests-Sheet 4.

@NME il: TATES y. I` l CHARLES JOSEPH MOULTON, OF CHATTERIS, AND ARTHURJ. KEEBLE, OF PETERBOROUGH, ENGLAND.

PoTATo-Dlecmci MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part "of Letters Patent No. 609,289, dated August16, 1898. Application filed December 28, 1897.l Serial No. 664,114. (Nomodel.) Patented in England November '7, 1896, No. 25,003.

T0 @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES JosEPH MOULTON, residing at Chatteris, inthe county of Cambridge, and ARTHUR JAMES KEEE'LE, residing atPeterborough,`in the county of Northampton, England, subjects of theQueen of Great Britain, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Potato-Digging Machines, (patented in England November'7, 1896, No. 25,003,) of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

The invention relates to improvements in potato-digging machines,whereby we greatly improve the operation thereof.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which--Figure 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 a plan, Fig. 3 a front view, and Fig. eta rear view, of a potato-digger provided with our present improvements.Fig. 5 is an elevation seen from the right-hand side of the machine ofparts carrying and giving motion to the toppingscreen and showing theshaking-riddles and their supports. Fig. 6 isa side elevation of partscarrying and giving motion to the shaking-riddles, the topping-screenbeing shown in section. Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation, and Fig. 8 isaplan, of part of the endless elevating-screen j. Fig. 9 is an edgeView, and Fig. 10 a plan, of two'links of said elevating-screen drawn`to a larger scale. Fig. l1 shows a modified arrangement ofdriving-gear.

In carrying our invention into eiect we employ a framing a, supportedbya'pair of wheels b, fixed to a rotating shaft c, and by `a pair ofsmaller wheels cl, mounted on a fore carriage e, supporting the front ofthe frame a, which latter is capable of being raised and lowered inrelation tothe fore carriage e by means of a lever f. For this purposethe lever f is pinjoin`te'd to the upright e and is adjustably connectedat one end to the link a', while its other end is held by a hook a2.

gis a share fixed.` to dependent arms dit, attached to the frame aandacting to lift each row of potatoes and the earth in which they havegrown to the lower end of a short endless elevator h, the working faceof which is on a line or thercabout with the face of the share,while'the'upper end is above and 'projectsfsomewhat' over the lower endof an endless elevating-screenj. This lower elevator h is narrower andis or may be worked at a slower speed than the upper elevator j, and inorder to prevent injury to the machine by stones we hinge a portion g ofthe rear end of the share, so that when a stone is lifted by the lowerelevator 71) such hinged portion g of the share shall give way and allowthe stone to pass without injury to the machine. By these arrangementsthe earth will become disintegrated and separated from the potatoes,partly byfalling over the upper end of the lower elevatorh onto thelower end of the upper elevator j and partly by the vibrationof thislatter elevator and its increased speed as compared with the lowerelevator h when such increased speed is used. f

The endless elevating-screenj is formed of two main outer chains jo,connected together at suitableintervals by cross-barsj, attached to lugsjl, formed on certain ofthe links of the chains jo, and a series ofslacker chains jg, which, being connected to the cross-bars j', so as tofall below the main chains jo, and by the aid of cross-rods j,passedthrough links of the chains ji, form pockets to receive andsecurely carry the potatoes up tothe top of the elevating-screen Thepockets thus formed also, by their having aconsiderable amount ofvibratory` motion both in traveling forward andin` passing over theirsupporting-wheels, assist in separating the earth from the potatoes andin clearing earth from themselves.

The elevatinghscreen h `is p constructed in similar manner to theelevating-screen j. At each side of the endless elevating-screens hj,respectively, is arranged a guard w, of sheet iron or other suitablematerial, which is attached to and carried by the frame of the machineand is of such width as to prevent the potatoes on the said elevatorsfrom falling sidewise out of the pockets thereof.

When the potatoes, with their tops'and with .the weeds which have grownwith them, have passed over the top of the elevating-screen j, they fallonto an endless transversely-traveling topping-screen lathe spaces ofwhich are sufliciently large to allow all the potatoes to passtherethrough, but which will hold back and separate the tops and weedstherefrom and carry the latter away to the side of the machine, wherethey will fall to the ground. A guard 7c* is fitted at the outer or rearside of the topping-screen 7c to prevent any tops or unriddled potatoesfrom falling into the receiver m.

The potatoes after having passed through the endless topping-screen fallonto apair of superposed shaking riddles or screens Z Z2, eachconsisting of two vertical sides, a closed front, an inclinedscreening-bottom, and an open rear end for delivery of the screenedpotatoes. The upper screen Z has a more open screening-bottom than thatof the lower screen Z2. The larger potatoes are retained by the upperscreen Z', while the smaller potatoes and accompanying earth fall ontothe lower screen Z2, where the potatoes are separated from theearth,which latter falls through to the ground, While the potatoes fromboth screens fall into a box or receiver m, whence they may be allowedto fall into baskets carried beneath such receiver.

The receiver m is provided with a rear guard m2 and with movable bottomsor sliding doors m', which can be closed when the baskets m3 are to beremovedand reopened when the latter are replaced.

Motion is given to the endless elevatingscreens, topping-screen, andshaking riddles or screens in the following manner: On the l mainwheel-shaft c is fitted a chain-wheel n4,

y js, mounted on the cross-shaft j7, near each lers 705.

end thereof. The main chains jo of the upper endless elevating-screenaremounted on chain-wheels j, fitted on the cross-shaftj7 at top, and onchain-wheels g7'4 on the cross-shaft js at bottom. On one end of thecross-shaft .,7'7 is mounted a chain-wheel ju, which by means of a chain713 rotates a chain-Wheel 7a2,

fitted on a cross-shaft 71.',on which are mounted the chain-Wheels h4,which operate the main chains ho of the lower endless elevating-screen.The bottom end of the lower endless elevating-screen is supported bychain-wheels h5 and rollers fitted on a cross-shaft 71,6, carried bybrackets fixed to the arms a. The elevating-screen 7L is.. also providedwith the cross-bars 77.*.

The topping-screen 7c is formed of two endless main chains 7.90,connected at intervals by cross-bars 7a and by other chains 71:2, fixedto such cross-bars and having cross-rods 7a2 passed at suitabledistances through the links thereof. This endless topping-screen 7c runsover driving chain-Wheels 7a4 and guide-roll- The drivingchain-wheels7a4 are fixed on a shaft 7c, on which is fixed a grooved pulley 707,over which and over guide-pulleys 708 (seen more clearly at Fig. 5) runsa driving band or chain ,710, receiving motion from a driving-pulleyjfon the shaft j?.

The pair of superposed shaking-riddles ZZ2 (see Fig. 6) are mounted inbrackets Z2, carried on the framing a. Rocking levers Z6 are pinned attheir ends to the top and bottom riddles, respectively, the rockingmotion being communicated to each by a rod Z7, xed to the bottom end ofone of the rocking levers, the other end being fixed to a crank-pin oreccentric Z8 on the shaft Z, on which latter is fixeda chain-wheel Zw,drivenby a chain Z11 from the chain-wheel Z12, fixed on the crossshaftji. A fly-wheel 712 may be fitted to the crank-shaft Z9.

In the modified arrangement of drivinggear shown at Fig. ll a largechain-wheel n4, fitted on the main wheel-shaft c, communicates motion bymeans of a chain n3 to a chain-wheel o', fitted on a cross-shaft o,which shaft may be mounted on any convenient part of the framing a. Onthe cross-shaft ois fitted a spur-pinion o2, which gears with aspurpinion js, fitted on a cross-shaft l, placed with this arrangementalongside the cross-shaft 0. On one end of the shaft lis fitted achainwheel 2, which communicates motion by means of a chain 3 to achain-wheel 4: on a shaft j?, on which the wheels actuating the top ofthe upper endless elevator j are mounted. On the other end of thecross-shaft 1 is a chain-wheel 5, which communicates motion by means ofa chain h3 to a chain-wheel 71,2, fitted on a cross-shaft 7L', on whichthe chainwheels actuating the upper end of the lower endless elevator Ztare mounted. The advantage of this modified arrangement of gearing isthat by increasing or decreasing the size of the chain-wheels 2, o', andi and 5 and 72,2, the normal and relative speeds of the upper and lowerendless elevators can be increased or decreased, as desired.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

l. In apotato-digging machine, the combination with a suitable frame, ofa potato-digging share, a hinged part at the rear of such share, a shortendless elevating-screen formed with a number of pockets and having itsworking face on a level or thereabout with the face of the share, alonger endless elevating-screen formed with a number of pockets andhavingits lower end below the upper end of the short endlesselevating-screen, an endless cross-traveling topping-screen receivingthe potatoes, tops, weeds and earth, from the longer endlesselevating-screen,a pair of shaking screens or riddles receiving thepotatoes from the topping-screen and delivering the potatoes toreceivers, substantially as herein set forth.

2. In a potato-diggin g machine, the endless elevating-screensconsisting of the combination of main outer chains, cross-barsconnecting such outer chains together at intervals,

IOO

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lugs on certain links of the outer chains to which such cross-bars arefixed, slacker intermediate chains connected to the cross-bars andfalling below the main chains, and crossrods passed through links of theslacker chains to form pockets to receive and carry the potatoes,substantially as herein set forth.

3. In a potato-digging machine,the toppingscreen consisting of thecombination of outer and intermediate chains, cross-bars connecting theouter chains, and cross-rods passed through the intermediate chains,substantially as herein set forth.

4. In a potato-digging machine, the combination of apotato-diggingshare, a short endless elevating-screen, a longer endlesselevating-screen, guards at each side of said screens, an endlesstransversely-traveling toppingscreen,a pair of shaking-riddles aroundwhich the topping-screen travels, and a potato-receiver provided withsliding doors or bottom, substantially as herein set forth.

5. In a potato-digging machine, the combination with a suitable frame,of apotato-dig ging share, a hinged part at the rear of such share, ashort endless elevating-screen formed with a number of pockets andhaving its working face on a level or thereabout with the face of theshare, a longer endless elevating-screen formed with a number of pocketsand having its lower end below the upper end of the short endlesselevating-screen, means to impart to said longer endless elevatingscreena greater speed than the shorter, an endless cross-travelingtopping-screen receiving the potatoes, tops, weeds and earth from thelonger endless elevating-screen, and a pair of shaking screens orriddles receiving the potatoes from the topping-screen and deliveringthem to receivers, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof We afiix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

CHARLES JOSEPH MOULTON.

A. J. KEEBLE. Witnesses:

B. J. B. MILLS,

CLAUDE K. MILLS.

